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Ed Sheeran - I don’t use Spotify or Apple Music to discover new music

Ed Sheeran arrives for An Evening with Dermot O’ Leary at the London Irish Centre in Camden Square, London (Victoria Jones/PA)

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Ed Sheeran has revealed he does not use Spotify to discover new artists, despite Shape of You being the platform’s most streamed track of all time.

The Galway Girl singer was attending a charity fundraiser for the London Irish Centre in Camden, north London, where he performed to an intimate crowd and signed and auctioned off his guitar for £20,000.

Dermot O’Leary, a patron of the cultural centre, sat down with the Grammy award-winning artist to discuss their heritage and love of music of Irish origin.

Dermot O’ Leary with Gary Dunne of the London Irish Centre and Ed Sheeran (Victoria Jones/PA)

Sheeran told the BBC Radio 2 presenter: “I don’t use Spotify or Apple Music, I literally go on what people give me, like CDs, or if they recommend something on iTunes.

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“Or I listen to the radio. I listen to Radio 2 a lot,” he told an approving crowd.

Sheeran added that he prefers to hear about new music through word of mouth, and goes by a three-time referral rule.

“I just go off recommendations. It usually takes three people to get me to listen to something,” he said.

“I remember someone told me to listen to Mumford & Sons, and I didn’t. Then another person did, and I didn’t, and then the third person I was like ‘I should’”.

Shape of You has racked up almost 1.8 billion streams on Spotify since its release in January 2017.

Sheeran is also a patron of the London Irish Centre Charity. Established in 1954, it has since served as a home away from home for the local and Irish community.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan thanked the Irish community for their contribution to the city’s heritage (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan attended Tuesday’s event and paid tribute to the Irish community who helped to rebuild after the Second World War.

“Thank you to every single Londoner of Irish descent and every member of the Irish community for helping to make London the greatest city in the world,” he told the audience.

“For more than 50 years the London Irish Centre has been a lifeline to the Irish community,” he added.